Decanter goes to Naples as part of a series about Italian cities to bring you the best wine of the region’s main city.

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Naples is the regional capital of Campania. It has a lively, sometimes chaotic, energy that makes it stand out among Italian towns. That can happen if you live close to Vesuvius, a volcano that could erupt at any time. The architecture of this key port on the Bay of Naples is a mix of styles that come from its long history, from the time of the Greeks and Romans to its time as one of Europe’s most important cultural hubs from the 16th century to the 18th. Before Italy became one country in 1860, it was the capital of the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

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In the 8th century BC, Greek vines came to Italy near Naples and spread all over the peninsula. Roman culture was built around wine, and you can still see signs of this in the fields that were replanted using the Roman grid at Pompeii. Many of southern Italy’s most important grapes grow in Campania. These include the white Fiano and Greco di Tufo and the strong red Aglianico, which is used in Taurasi. Some small types that grew on volcanic soils escaped phylloxera and are now being found again, like Falanghina and Piedirosso. From the Amalfi Coast to the high hills of Irpinia and the Cilento, vines are grown all over the area, and wines are made in all of them.